A Few Thoughts from a Jungler

As a jungle main, I see a lot of crap, and I get a lot of crap for things that I didn't do. I feel like there are things that people who don't main jungle don't really understand, so I'm here to shed some light.

First off, you have to understand that laning is like chess; intricate and complex. However, winning the game as a whole is like 3D chess, and since the jungler doesn't have a lane they (should) start the game off in that mindset. Moves that seem obvious to a laner could look like suicide to the jungler. All top lane is worried about is winning top lane and maybe roaming. The jungler has to worry about top, mid, bot, dragon, Herald, Baron, and the enemy jungler. So when top asks for a gank and the jungler ignores them, maybe they're a bad jungler... or maybe he sees that bot lane is low health and getting pushed in and the enemy jung's bot side buff spawned 20 seconds ago and if he shows top the enemy jung is going to gank bot and then the 3 of them are going to do dragon and maybe even take a turret. Not only that, but during laning phase the jungler has to discern who's going to carry this game, and if it isn't a laner it'll just have to be the jungler. Now that you're in that frame of mind, let's look at a common laner complaint:

> Trundle I've been ganked 5 times and you haven't been here once!

Here's where I lose some of you, but I urge you to hear me out: if you complain about being camped, it makes me less likely to come help you. First off, the enemy jungler is also playing 3D chess. In league terms, if he's come over there 4 times and all 4 times they've either killed you, forced you to back, or gotten a summoner's, of course he came back a fifth time. So as soon as you say that, I look at a few things: do you have a pink ward placed in a gank path, do you have wards down in the river, are you letting the wave push towards your tower, etc... If your corpse is face planted under their tower with not a ward in sight you are a lost cause. My time is better spent in one of the other 2 lanes or just in the jungle making myself strong. And can we just look at your statement? If I camp a lane that's being camped, it's just going to turn into a 2v2 or 3v3... and you've already fed them. We've all played bot lanes with feeding lane partners; is it fun? The solution to camping isn't counter-camping, that's why 'counter-camping' isn't a real term (the word for that situation is 'baby-sitting', but don't worry; it only sounds condescending because it is). The above statement is closely related to:

> All lanes are losing, Udyr! Do something!

This is actually a direct quote from the ADC in a game I had a few days ago, and it blew my mind. I said laning is like chess, but some people play it like checkers or connect 4. How am I, one person, supposed to save 3 lanes that are already losing? And no, I wasn't just afk farming, I was in mid. Why was I in mid? Because top lane fed, then their opponent came mid so I had to come try to save the only lane that was doing well (even when our top laner came down, we couldn't 2v3 them. Mostly because our top laner was completely useless. So more like a 2v2.5). And then their jungler could just split his time between camping bot and coming mid so their top could stopping me from splitting top. I'm literally trying every strategy I know and they just fed so hard nothing could work. It is not the jungler's job to save the game, it's the laners' jobs to win the game with the junger's help. You didn't lose lane because you got no ganks, you lost lane by yourself and your jungler just happened to not save you.

You also have to realize how many pieces have to come together in order for a gank to work. I'm an Udyr main, so my ganks are HIGHLY dependent on someone somehow buying enough time for me to get to the target. That means either letting the opponent push or landing some CC. And when I say 'push', I mean you need to be farming under turret. If I was Lee Sin, then maybe you could define 'push' as 'the minions meet up slightly past the halfway mark of the lane'. If I was a fed Volibear with flash or ghost up, then you could define 'push' as 'the enemy is just barely outside of their turret range'. But since I'm Udyr, when I say 'let them push', you need to let them PUSH.

With that in mind, a discussion: should you gank a losing lane? Above I just highlighted a great example of why you should: one fed opponent could throw the entire game into disarray. However you also have to consider whether or not ganking there would have helped. That top laner, and many other top laners specifically, did NOT have an off button. If the enemy was in range, they were fighting. Even after dying to them 3 times in a row it was still go time. And they were 2 items into their build, not including boots, before they built one defensive item. So ganking once or twice would not be enough, I'd have to camp them to save that lane. Being top constantly would have been just as bad for bot lane as being mid constantly, because the enemy jungler would still be free to camp bot. The only difference is I would have been nowhere near dragon and mid could have also been camped, with no guarantee that we would win top lane. And you also need to understand that when you gank for a feeder, it doesn't help the feeder at all. First off, there's a chance that both of you die. Second, even if you get the kill, there's a good chance that the feder will die trying to secure it for themselves despite all evidence saying that you would have secured it without their involvement. And when I say a very good chance, I mean more that 70%. Maybe that changes in higher ELOs, but in bronze and silver I can tell you for a fact that these people let their greed and rage completely overtake common sense and logic. And no, that kill was not worth your life. If the mid laners die to each other with a ganker getting the assist, that's 300 gold for the mid, 150 for the ganker, and let's say 450 shutdown gold for the team (90 each). So almost 400 gold for the mid. Meanwhile their mid got 300 for their kill and pressure taken off the other lanes which could lead to another lane getting a kill on one of your teammates. And that's the best case scenario. In worse cases their mid kills yours first and the ganker gets the kill. That's 390 gold for the ganker, 240 for the mid, and 300 for their mid; your mid was better off before the gank. Even worse, the kill on your mid may proc Dangerous Game, allowing their mid to get away or kill the ganker, giving them 300 or 600 gold for free.

So what should laners do instead of expecting Riot to put a Challenjour smurf jungler in all of their games? Laners just need to transition into that 3D chess mindset as soon as they start losing. When I'm laning I never get camped because I know why a jungler would come to camp me. If I'm not strong enough to 2v1 or 3v2 I don't push, I put down wards, and MOST IMPORTANTLY if I get ganked and killed I play as if I already expect for them to come right back. Eventually my jungler will either see that I need help and am gankable or they'll snowball the other lanes and I can just hop on the Freelo Express. Because in 3D chess there are pawns and kings, and which one you are in League depends on your performance in that game. If I'm a pawn this game I don't expect to be protected like a king, I just let myself get carried. If I am strong enough to 2v1, I still put down wards, but instead of pushing I just dangle myself out on the hook a little bit waiting for someone to show up then start retreating toward safety while also laying down a beating, then ask them over all chat to bring a buff with them next time (tilting your enemies is a perfectly viable strategy. I mean, why do you think Fizz and Shaco exist?). And if nothing else while they're wasting their time with me my other lanes know they're safe from ganks.